Meeting Manchester United legend Paul Scholes

“ I am not a man of many words but I can honestly say that playing football is all I have ever wanted to do. To have had such a long and successful career at Manchester United has been a real honor.  To have been part of the team that helped the club reach a record 19th title is a great privilege.”
             -   Paul Scholes, upon retiring in 2013

 
Paul Scholes is a shy, awkward man.  While being a footballer of this generation means embracing a sort of celebrity status, here was a man who continually avoided the “circus.”  When I heard he was definitely coming to Manila I thought I heard it wrong.

Notorious for being extremely private and quiet, Scholes let his brand of football do the talking. His contemporaries speak highly of him though. Zinedine Zidane famously said that Scholes is “the greatest midfielder of his generation,” while David Beckham, when he was in Real Madrid, was often asked “what’s he like?” Paul Scholes, it cannot be denied, was the ultimate player’s player. Even non-fans of Manchester United appreciate his abilities.
 
Amazing footballers often find themselves in distant parts of the world – although the Philippines doesn’t get exposed to them as much, unlike our other South East Asian counterparts who are part of the regular football club tours during the offseason break.  So when the opportunity to meet Paul Scholes came up, there was no way I was sitting this one out.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the press conference at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati, and I have to say, just seeing the name spelled out on top of the table gave me goosebumps. I saw David Beckham two years before, but this was different for me.  

As we were given instructions as to the kind of questions that were not allowed, I immediately ran through the questions I initially had in my head and scratched out all of them. A few minutes later, after the buffet meal and a couple of introductions by the sponsors and an audio visual presentation of what the CLEAR Dream Match was about, we finally saw a glimpse of that red hair at the back of the room, waiting to be introduced.  I cannot explain the years of admiring this guy from watching him on television and his greatest hits on YouTube (and sometimes dodgy streaming). I never, in a million years, thought I’d see him in person, let alone be in the same room as him.

And just like in interviews where Scholes would not know what to do with himself, he was just standing there, waiting for things around him to happen as the presscon wrapped up.  I was battling the uncertainty of what was going to happen if ever I get to talk to him until the “hiya” part dissipated. I took out my phone and made a weak attempt at getting a selfie along with my friends, with him in the background. But when I finally got the courage to come up, Scholes was already getting whisked out of the room.

A few hours later, I found myself sitting in the bleachers at the Emperador Stadium watching him kick the ball around with his Team Phil teammates.  What better way to appreciate Paul Scholes than to see him in action?  And I sat there in awe. It felt like five minutes rather than one hour of practice. I wanted to press rewind.  

After much debate in my head, I finally got the courage to walk up to him and ask for a photo but the bodyguard didn’t think it was going to happen.

The next day, I was with my friends at the CLEAR Dream Match.  All hope of getting a photo with Paul Scholes already down the drain, my friend Che and I were just content being able to watch him play the game.  And boy, whenever he passed the ball, it was sublime.  They could’ve just passed him the ball more often and make him create plays and it would’ve been more awesome. That ticket was worth it.

It wasn’t until halftime that my other friends told us to transfer to where they were seated. And so we did, to the first row of the red bleachers. There we had a better view of the game.

When the final whistle was blown, we stood up along the barrier around the track waiting for the celebratory lap.

I still wanted my photo with Paul Scholes and my friend Che had Scholes’ book that she bought during our Thailand trip for the Suzuki Cup in 2012.  When we saw that Paul wasn’t exactly going near the fans from across the pitch we were even more determined to get his attention.

So there we were phone camera at hand, and Scholes book in the other, waiting patiently for our turn. Our friend Jady was on our left being the good supportive friend that he is.  And when he finally got to where we were, we had to call out his name to get his attention.  

He was about to move on to the other fans when he saw Che’s book and he went straight to us. For a moment there, the world stopped.

He took Che’s pen and wrote on the book.  At that moment, I was really happy for my friend who was also big Manchester United fan. I didn’t know where I got the presence of mind to take photos of him signing her book, but I did.

He was turning his back and moving on.  I had to ask him again for a photo. But he went to sign someone else’s jersey and I thought, oh no, that was it.

But then, he came back. And before I lost my nerve, I took out my phone and clicked.

“Thank you, Paul” was all I could muster. And yes, I felt a couple of tears go down my cheeks.  I have never felt (and probably looked) this ridiculously happy over something so unreal in my head.

I cannot believe I have a selfie with Paul Scholes.  Ridiculous. (I know I’m sounding redundant, but right now, I don’t care.)

That night, I slept with a smile plastered on my face as I reminisced what happened during the game and the day before.  This just doesn’t happen every day. IT DOESN’T HAPPEN.  

But it did.  And this Manchester United fan is happy (no matter what happened last season). - AMD, GMA News